Guilford (3-4) at East Haven (1-6): Second Shutout in the Snow
Crisafi Field, East Haven, CT
Friday, November 9th, 2012 7:00 PM
The Guilford Indians were ready to come out strong and add another win to their win column in their matchup against the Yellow Jackets of East Haven. Besides the players on the other team, there was another difficult element added to the game: snow. The Indians and the Yellow Jackets had to play the game in what seemed to be the North Pole instead of East Haven. Because of the weather, the crowd was as sparse as the green grass was. This did not bother the players though. Every year snow is an exciting part of NFL and college football games and the guys were willing to get a little cold to play in the white snow as they see every year on television.
The Yellow Jackets won the coin toss to start the game and were able to start their drive with good field position on their own 40 yard line. The Indians’ defense was able to start out dominant and set a tone for the game. John Kikosicki made the first play of the drive by losing 2 yards and then lost a yard on his next attempt. After an incomplete pass by quarterback DeMarco, the Yellow Jackets were forced to punt on their first drive.
The Indians were able to come out and make a statement on offense as well as defense. Zergiebel completed two 6 yard runs to gain a first down. He was able to gain another first down after a 32 yard run. It was all Zergiebel when he made another first down on three plays to set up first and goal on the 5 yard line. On first down, he gained another 3 yards to set up Joe Nault’s short 2 yard touchdown run. With a successful extra point kicked by Nault, the score was 7-0 early in the game.
The Yellow Jackets started their next drive again with good field position on the Indians’ 45 yard line. Kikosicki was unable to gain any yards on first down and after a fumbled pitch, the Yellow Jackets lost 15 yards. Nick Setaro was able to sack DeMarco to lose even more yards. On the next play, Fred Trotta was able to intercept DeMarco’s pass and gain 26 yards for the Indians. After the Trotta’s interception, Zergiebel gained 3 yards and then made a 2 yard touchdown run. After Nault added the extra point, the game was 14-0 with 0:10 to go in the first quarter.
The second quarter began as the Indians’ kicked off the ball. On the first play of the drive, DeMarco was able to gain 23 yards before he was wrapped up by Carson Sperry. After DeMarco was tackled at the line of scrimmage, the Yellow Jackets got 5 yards handed to them because of an offside penalty against the Indians. Trotta only allowed Nick Poulin 2 yards and Sperry only allowed DeMarco a yard. But a 5 yard motion penalty on the Indians gave the Yellow Jackets 5 more yards and a first down. Trotta forced DeMarco to lose a yard on first down and Antonio Pensa only allowed Poulin 2 yards on the ensuing play. Setaro forced DeMarco to only gain a yard and when the Yellow Jackets went for the first down on forth down and 10, DeMarco threw an incomplete pass and the Indians received the ball on downs.
The Indians next possession did not go as well as they wanted to. Zergiebel was able to get a quick first down after a 13 yard run. Nault was then sacked for a loss of 4 yards and Zergiebel was stopped for a loss of 2. Duke Knapp made a 7 yard run but it was not enough for a first down and the Indians punted the ball.
The Yellow Jackets did not have that much success on their next drive as well. DeMarco was able to gain 2 yards but then the Yellow Jackets fumbled the ball and Setaro was able to recover it and gain 15 yards to get the ball to the Yellow Jackets’ 8 yard line and set up first and goal for the Indians. Zergiebel mad a 4 and a 2 yard run before he was able to finally make a 2 yard run into the end zone for a touchdown. With a good extra point, the Indians were up 21-0 with 2:40 in the second half.
On the Yellow Jackets next possession, DeMarco returned the kickoff to the Hornet’s own 42 yard line. Kikosicki was unable to gain any yards and was tackled at the line of scrimmage. Ford Linell was able to wrap up DeMarco for a loss of 11 yards. The Yellow Jackets were in a punt position. As DeMarco was about to punt the ball, he tossed it to Mike DeAngelo and he completed a 40 yard pass to Kikosicki for a first down. Setaro was able to make a tackle on DeMarco after his 5 yard gain on first down. DeMarco was able to add 4 yards on his next run before Knapp stopped him. He then lost 3 yards on next play. After an incomplete pass, the half ended.
The Indians were successfully able to come out and make a statement in the first half on both sides of the ball. The defense so far was able to keep a 0 on the East Haven side of the scoreboard and not allow many yards. Zergiebel was able to run allover the field for the Indians on offense. The Indians were ready to close out the game and get another win.
The East Haven defense came out ready to play as the Indians received the ball on their own 35 yard line to start the second half of the game. After Zergiebel gained 4 yards, they sacked Nault for a 4 yard loss, and tackled Knapp for a 3 yard loss. The Indians were forced to punt.
The Yellow Jackets were able to start on their own 40 yard line on their first drive of the half. DeMarco lost a yard on his first run attempt and a false start pushed East Haven back 5 yards. DeMarco was able to put together a 10 and then a 5 yard run to gain a first down. After an incomplete pass, DeAngelo lost 10 yards on his run attempt and the Yellow Jackets punted the ball.
Zergiebel and the Indians went back on offense ready to score. Zergiebel got a quick first down after completing a 9 and then a 2 yard run. He then got another first down with a 6 and 5 yard run. With excellent blocking, Pensa was able to make a 65 yard touchdown run. Nault’s extra point failed and the Indians were up 27-0.
The Yellow Jackets went back on offense after the kickoff. DeMarco was able to gain 5 yards and then added 50 more before he was tackled by Pensa. The Yellow Jackets then fumbled the ball which was recovered by the Yellow Jackets’ Andre Rhodes but, they lost 10 yards on the play. A false start backed up the Yellow Jackets another 5 yards and an incomplete pass was thrown on the next play. The Yellow Jackets faked a punt again but this time it was unsuccessful and the Indians took over on downs.
After taking over on downs, Zergiebel was able to gain another first down for the Indians after a 4 and 6 yard run. Nault then gained 8 yards as the third quarter ended. As the forth quarter began, Nault was able to make a 10 yard run to gain a first down. Then, Pensa was able to make a huge 36 yard run for a touchdown. With a good extra point, the Indians were up 34-0 with 11:20 to go in the game.
The Yellow Jackets were not able to do much with the ball on their next drive. Steve Reynolds gained 2 yards but the Yellow Jackets were backed up 10 yards after a holding penalty on their next play. Then, sophomore Nash Singleton was able to intercept a pass and put the Indians back on offense.
The Indians’ made a few small plays with freshman quarterback Jack Jankura in the game until the ball was fumbled and recovered by East Haven. The Yellow Jackets made two plays before time expired in the game.
The Indians were able to complete two shutouts in a row. This was mainly due to their defense who did not allow the offense to make any big plays. The Indians came to East Haven with a mission to get a win and get their record to .500 and they did just that. Besides the presence of the snow, the game was not flashy and not very exciting, but the team got the job done which is what they came to do. Now with the Indians at a .500 record they must win their last two games to have a winning season. Wednesday, November 14th at 7:00 PM at the Kavanaugh Turf Field is the Indians next game. They are up against Foran who is 5-3 on the season. They Indians are then up against the mighty Hand Tigers whose win against Xavier made local headlines. This will be the most challenging game for the Indians but in sports anything is possible and with strong showings against West Haven and Hillhouse, this could be the year. The game against Foran this week is a crucial game for the Indians, who want to go into the Hand game with a winning record. It is also senior night. Everyone please come out and support the Indians this Wednesday to cheer them on to a victory and say goodbye to our seniors!
